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Madame Restell: The Life, Death, and Resurrection of Old New York’s Most Fabulous, Fearless, and Infamous Abortionist Hardcover – February 28, 2023

by Jennifer Wright (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 217 ratings
Editors' pick Best History
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Discover the true story of a self-taught surgeon and trailblazing figure in medical history—Madame Restell, a revolutionary surgeon who fought for women's rights and healthcare in Gilded Age New York.​

An industrious immigrant who built her business from the ground up, Madame Restell was a self-taught surgeon on the cutting edge of healthcare in pre-Gilded Age New York, and her bustling “boarding house” provided birth control, abortions, and medical assistance to thousands of women—rich and poor alike. As her practice expanded, her notoriety swelled, and Restell established her-self as a prime target for tabloids, threats, and lawsuits galore. But far from fading into the background, she defiantly flaunted her wealth, parading across the city in designer clothes, expensive jewelry, and bejeweled carriages, rubbing her success in the faces of the many politicians, publishers, fellow physicians, and religious figures determined to bring her down.

Unfortunately for Madame Restell, her rise to the top of her field coincided with “the greatest scam you’ve never heard about”—the campaign to curtail women’s power by restricting their access to both healthcare and careers of their own. Powerful, secular men—threatened by women’s burgeoning independence—were eager to declare abortion sinful, a position endorsed by newly-minted male MDs who longed to edge out their feminine competition and turn medicine into a standardized, male-only practice. By unraveling the misogynistic and misleading lies that put women’s lives in jeopardy, Wright simultaneously restores Restell to her rightful place in history and obliterates the faulty reasoning underlying the very foundation of what has since been dubbed the “pro-life” movement.

Thought-provoking, character-driven, boldly written, and feminist as hell, Madame Restell is required reading for anyone and everyone who believes that when it comes to women’s rights, women’s bodies, and women’s history, women should have the last word.

 

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  1. Print length
    352 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Hachette Books
  4. Publication date
    February 28, 2023
  5. Dimensions
    6.45 x 1.35 x 9.75 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0306826798
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0306826795
  8. See all details
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  1. What's it about?

    This book is about a self-taught surgeon and trailblazing figure in medical history—Madame Restsell, a revolutionary surgeon who fought for women's rights and healthcare in Gilded Age New York.
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From the Publisher

Madame Restell

Madame Restell

Madame Restell

Madame Restell

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

An Amazon Best Book of March 2023:They say that history is written by the victors, which goes a long way towards explaining the anonymity of Ann Trow, a.k.a. Madame Restell. Jennifer Wright’s meticulously researched, dryly humorous, and frankly feminist biography of the glamorous, celebrated, and unapologetic abortionist—whose defiance in the face of an oppressive patriarchy can best be described as (ahem) ballsy—should set that right. In an era when trying to evade the clutches of would-be impregnaters was a full time job—and the price paid by women for failure ranged from shame to penury to much worse—along came a disrupter: an immigrant woman and amateur surgeon in Victorian-era New York, who marketed and provided abortions so safe and convenient she was beloved by her patients, and a self-made millionaire to boot. Dismantling centuries-old misconceptions, Wright blends rousing biography and eye-opening medical and cultural history lessons in this compulsively readable biography of a remarkable woman. —Vannessa Cronin, Amazon Editor

Review

**Longlisted for the Brooklyn Public Library Book Prize in Nonfiction (2023)**

**Smithsonian Magazine, “10 Best History Books of 2023”**

**Audible, "12 Best History Listens of 2023" **

**An Amazon EDITOR'S PICK for BEST BOOKS OF 2023 SO FAR in BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR and HISTORY**
​
**An Amazon EDITOR'S PICK for BEST BOOKS OF THE MONTH (March 2023)**

**INDIE NEXT List Pick for March 2023**

**A Bookshop.Org EDITOR'S PICK (March 2023)***

Next Idea Book Club, "February Must Reads" and "40 Nonfiction Books to Watch Out For in 2023"

Cosmopolitan, "11 Best Books to Put on Your TBR"

Amazon, Best Books in History and Nonfiction (March 2023)

The Spectator, "Books to Watch Out For in 2023"

American Journal of Bioethics, "Recommended Reading"



"Painfully timely... Wright observes that Americans don’t take well to learning history. When it is delivered with this kind of blunt force, however, perhaps they might. Whatever readers end up thinking of Madame Restell, they surely cannot miss the core lesson: that there has never been a culture in human history without abortion. The only variable has ever been the cost.―New York Times Book Review

“A searing portrait of an indomitable woman… Wright juxtaposes her subject’s story with those of Restell’s patients and an overview of the broader conversation surrounding abortion in the late 19th century.”―Smithsonian Magazine

"Wright’s book dances off the page."―Washington Post

"They say that history is written by the victors, which goes a long way towards explaining the anonymity of Ann Trow, a.k.a. Madame Restell. Jennifer Wright’s meticulously researched, dryly humorous, and frankly feminist biography of the glamorous, celebrated, and unapologetic abortionist—whose defiance in the face of an oppressive patriarchy can best be described as (ahem) ballsy—should set that right... Dismantling centuries-old misconceptions, Wright blends rousing biography and eye-opening medical and cultural history lessons in this compulsively readable biography of a remarkable woman."―Amazon

"Madame Restell is a timely portrait of one woman’s boldness mixes deep research with page-turning prose to bring Madame Restell’s times to life, reminding what’s at stake in the fight for bodily autonomy." (Editor's Pick)―Bookshop.Org

“By unraveling the misogynistic and misleading lies that put women’s lives in jeopardy, Wright simultaneously restores Restell to her rightful place in history and obliterates the faulty reasoning underlying the very foundation of what has since been dubbed the 'pro-life' movement.” ―Daily Kos

"Restell is central to the story of the dismantling of American women's reproductive freedom during the last half of the nineteenth century, yet she has largely been treated as a curiosity and a footnote.... [This work] fill[s] a grievous void... Wright... has produced an engaging... chronicle, with clear passion..."―New York Review of Books

“This brightly written biography of a fierce woman lost to history will appeal strongly to feminists.”―New York Journal of Books

"A compelling study."―Los Angeles Review of Books

“This captivating portrait of the infamous self-taught surgeon and medical celebrity is also a glance at shifting mid-19th century mores, male power players, and their strategic campaign to curtail female independence and criminalize abortion.”―Globe & Mail

“Wright has vividly and thoroughly revived the dark story of Madame Restell, an undeniably powerful entrepreneur who rose from seemingly hopeless poverty by exercising her innate abilities, excelling and enjoying the fruits of her labors. She examines the thorny issue of abortion from numerous angles, treating it deftly. Restell’s life story encompasses subject matter that has much to teach, and Wright provides diligent, thoughtful research to make that possible.” ―BookReporter.com

“This is a book that’ll make you want to stand up and say, ‘HECK YES!’”―"Book Worm Says" column

"The fact that Ann Trow isn’t a well-known feminist heroine is a travesty. Thankfully, Jennifer Wright is here with an extensively researched, compulsively readable account of this singularly fascinating woman and her extraordinary legacy that still affects so much of the country even today... Lost to history by the concerted efforts of power-hungry, sexist men, this remarkable woman is finally receiving her due in this fast-paced, whirlwind of a book. This book is more than a retrospective on the life of a forgotten heroine; it’s a telling account of how women’s health became both a commodity and a tool of oppression. Highly recommended for anyone with an eye on today’s politics and wonders how we got here."

―CityView














“Wright’s well-researched biography is not only interesting, but, sadly, timely. A fresh contribution to women’s history.”













―Kirkus

"[An] impassioned and irreverent biography... Wright paints a vivid picture of Restell’s rise to prominence and weaves in intriguing details about the history of birth control and abortion. This feminist history fascinates."―Publishers Weekly

“Jennifer Wright is one of the best writers of history working today, and it’s a gift to all of us that she’s choosing to focus her tremendous skill as a researcher and singular voice on an all-but-forgotten figure like Madame Restell. To call this book timely would be an understatement. It functions not only as a brilliant biography but also a timeless reminder of the way history can be erased and changed to serve modern political purposes.”―DANA SCHWARTZ, #1 New York Times bestselling author of ANATOMY: A LOVE STORY and host of NOBLE BLOOD

“It may be a 19th century story, but Madame Restell's battles with sanctimonious hypocrites and condescending men feels all too modern, especially in an era when basic rights are once again being taken away. Luckily, Jennifer Wright has a wry humor and light hand, making this book as fun as it is inspiring.”―AMANDA MARCOTTE, Senior Political Writer at Salon and Author of TROLL NATION

“Reading Jennifer Wright’s books is always like having a brilliant friend tell you fascinating history you can’t believe you never heard of before. MADAME RESTELL is no exception—it’s a page-turning ride through the Gilded Age that will make you laugh, make you cry, and enrage you by turns.”―ALEXANDRA PETRI, Washington Post columnist and author of Alexandra Petri’s US History

“Like the woman herself, MADAME RESTELL is smart, fascinating, complicated, and not to be denied. Wright has written that most delicious of books, the true story of a bad bitch, a woman whose work is as relevant as your social media timeline, only it’s true.”―QUINN CUMMINGS, author of NOTES FROM THE UNDERWIRE and SMALL STORIES (2018-2020)

“MADAME RESTELL is a book about one of America's most infamous 19th century abortion providers, which is to say it's a delightful, indecorous, and sometimes disturbing story about the whole of American history: Capitalism and class, feminism and freedom, and puritanical hypocrites who find their authority challenged by women who want a littler power (and are willing to be more than a little bawdy in order to get it). If you want to understand contemporary politics, from brave women who break the law to the misogynist moral scolds who still want women under their thumb to the inevitable interplay of despair and resistance in the pursuit of liberation—or if you just want to read a truly captivating tale of the most important woman you've never heard of—don't miss MADAME RESTELL.”―JILL FILIPOVIC, journalist and author of THE H-SPOT

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hachette Books (February 28, 2023)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0306826798
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0306826795
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.18 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.45 x 1.35 x 9.75 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 217 ratings

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Jennifer Wright

Jennifer Wright

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
217 global ratings
An Incredibly Enlightening and Timely Read!
5 Stars
An Incredibly Enlightening and Timely Read!
As a fiction reader, I don't normally gravitate toward this genre, but overall, I was pleasantly surprised!'Madame Restell' is fiercely feminist and incredibly thought-provoking. The facts and statistics provided by Wright are, at times, harrowing and hard to swallow. It's a harsh look into society and women's rights (or lack thereof) in the nineteenth century.Wright's voice is quite distinct and I found myself laughing at the blunt truth she provides.I genuinely learned a great deal from reading about Madame Restell and I was thoroughly entertained the entire time (a huge plus for a nonfiction, if I do say so myself).It is fantastically written and seemingly very well researched.No matter your (pro-)stance, I believe there is something to be gained from reading this book.Huge thank you to Hachette Books (HachetteGo) for the ARC to read and honestly review.
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Top reviews from the United States

LM
5.0 out of 5 stars She was truly a “Bad Ass!”
Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2023
Verified Purchase
Madam Restell was a woman before her time. She was a trail blazer. She didn’t conform to social norms, she broke them. Even though she lived during the “post golden era”, what is written about her life could easily be applied today. Madam Restell was truly a woman in a “man’s world”; just as it is today.
According the historical records, woman have always been a pillar in their communities. They were the ones sought out for personal and domestic matters and in doing so, bare threat to the “male ego!” And along comes Madam Restell… Excellent! Thought provoking.
3 people found this helpful
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Elysa
4.0 out of 5 stars Informative Read
Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2024
Madame Restell was an ambitious immigrant who built her business from scratch. She was a self taught surgeon that had profitable boarding house business. Restell provided a safe haven to women who were seeking abortions and medical refuge to women of all backgrounds. As her business grew, her notoriety grew in the tabloids. Instead of avoiding the media attention, Restell was outspoken about her business and flaunted her wealth and power.

The book describes in detail, Restell's meteoric raise to fame and her downfall. I thought the book was an interesting read about the lengths women had to go to for basic reproductive care. However, there was a lot in the book that was filler and I felt that some details about Restell's life and her family was still shrouded in mystery. I usually don't read non-fiction books but, I found this one to be interesting and still unfortunately, relevant in today's times.
One person found this helpful
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Triple Moon Goddess Indiana
5.0 out of 5 stars History will repeat itself
Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2024
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"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" are wise words of wisdom from 1905. They are still true today. This is a wonderful book of history and yet is so current. I hope Madam Restell lived out her life happily, we will never know. This book is well written and should be read by all.
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Kevin L. Nenstiel
5.0 out of 5 stars The History of Women and Their Choices
Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2023
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This may shock and astound some people, but in the 19th Century, people actually had sex. This has been redacted from most pop histories, which present the era as either a bastion of restraint, or a desert of sexual repression. But just know that, if you think that, you believe a fable that later people sold you. Before the Gilded Age, people frequently had sex, and then as now, they didn’t want to get pregnant.

It’s hard to avoid the phrase “then as now” when reviewing this biography of Madame Restell, old New York’s most famous abortionist. This partly reflects pop historian Jennifer Wright’s intentions, as she deliberately compares the Tammany Hall era with our own. But it also bespeaks how much of history’s seedier side later historians bowdlerized. Wright doesn’t just restore Madame Restell to American history, she shows readers how much of history we’ve had withheld from us.

First, her name wasn’t Madame Restell. Ann Lohman, née Sommers, née Trow, reinvented herself as a sophisticated French physician, when she was actually a working-class immigrant from northern England. Like millions, she entered America through Ellis Island, looking for work, only to find an America overcrowded with similar immigrants. Despite being a skilled laborer, she couldn’t readily find work. She did find, however, that Manhattanites often had sex recklessly, and wanted to purge the evidence.

Some women in 1830s New York went into sex work because it paid well. Others took factory or domestic service jobs, but found bosses who saw their employees as essentially their personal harem. And some already simply had as many children as they could afford to raise. Again, the phrase “then as now” seems germane. Ann Sommers apparently apprenticed herself to a Manhattan compounding pharmacist, and soon started selling contraceptives. That word “apparently” looms large.

Jennifer Wright has written multiple pop histories about important people (mostly women) or events in American history. This is apparently her first book to spotlight just one individual. She works heavily from primary sources, which mostly means newspapers, from the heyday of American newspaper publishing. And that, in turn, means wringing the most salient facts from lurid 19th-Century scandal rags. During Madame Restell’s time, journalists weren’t overly burdened with professional ethics or commitment to accuracy.

Wright therefore must frequently extract the details of Madame Restell’s life from what her detractors didn’t say. (Restell herself apparently didn’t keep a diary, and therefore isn’t her own primary source.) Many of Restell’s accusers claim her wanton abortion practices were potentially deadly to women, for instance, yet they consistently failed to find one dead woman from Restell’s roster. This apparently means that, unlike many of her peers, Restell had no blood on her hands.

We know, from reliable testimony, that Madame Restell performed surgical abortions. No record exists, however, of where she learned the skills, much less how she learned them with such accuracy that she left few dead or maimed patients, something her peers couldn’t say likewise. We also don’t know where Restell learned her other skills. In addition to selling pharmaceutical contraceptives and performing abortions, she apparently also served as a midwife, adoption agent, and marriage counselor.

Restell gained notoriety, both for her effectiveness, and her personal boldness. Wright finds evidence of Restell’s notoriety in newspapers as far afield as Texas and Wisconsin. Apparently her reputation stretched nationwide during an era when news was limited to the speed of print. Restell was so effective, reliable, and safe— during a time when credentialled doctors were frequently quacks— that she became certifiably rich, plowing her money back into ventures like banking and land development.

This isn’t just one notorious woman’s biography. Madame Restell arose from a specific historical era, and Wright recreates that era for us. Restell’s business arose against a background of conflicting forces: urban industrialization caused gender roles to change rapidly. The women’s movement commenced, but because first-wave feminists were largely Quakers, they had little interest in sexual liberation. The slave economy, followed by the Civil War, created ripples that weren’t always obvious until many years later.

Wright’s biography recreates Restell’s life and times, including times that, in schoolbook American history, has often been shamelessly sanitized. Wright restores the era’s nuance, when social upheaval made abortion something women both despised and needed. But like the best literature, Wright’s history is equally about us, and how today’s social upheaval resembles the Tammany Hall era. She encourages us to learn from Madame Restell, and warns us what might happen if we fail to learn.
12 people found this helpful
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J. Harshbarger
3.0 out of 5 stars Author's beliefs took over this book
Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2024
Verified Purchase
I purchased this based on the idea that it was a biography, and of course expected that there would also be history and social history included. What I did not expect was the many, many injections of the author's own opinions and beliefs. It seems that this book was written to support the author's agenda. That's fine, but the potential buyer should be aware of that before buying the book. I would give the research and factual writing four stars, but I did not appreciate being hit over the head with a sledge hammer time after time.
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I read too much
5.0 out of 5 stars I can't speak highly enough
Reviewed in the United States on April 21, 2023
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I think I have read just about everything by Jennifer Wright, and while all of her books are good, and worth the read, imho she has reached new levels in her research and writing with this book. It is very hard to have a book so chock full of information and facts be so compelling and lively is hard, but Jennifer Wright did it flawlessly with this book.
Whether you want to like Madame Restell (the person) or despise her I think you will find this book interesting and compelling.
I'm not overly invested in abortion, and I nearly didn't purchase this book because when I read at night for my own entertainment I try to avoid subjects that I have been oversaturated with during the day (every day, all day, for weeks, months, years, etc.), but I am thrilled I purchased this one, and would recommend it to anyone with an interest in history.
7 people found this helpful
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zsf68
4.0 out of 5 stars Great book with a factual error on page one
Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2023
I've just started the book, and I'm really enjoying it so far. However, I noticed a glaring factual error on the very first page, which will cause me to question the quality of the rest of the research. It's a small point, but Anne Boleyn's executioner is misidentified. Any fact- checker should have noticed this immediately.
6 people found this helpful
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509
5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful and enlightening!
Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2023
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Jennifer Wright's book is a powerful 19th century journey through the perils of not only a woman's right to choose but also of the courageous woman's life who was determined to make that happen. I never knew of Madam Restell, and her life as an early abortionist is fascinating.

Meticulously researched and thoughtfully written, this subject is as relevant today as it was in the 1800's. A must read for women interested in reproductive history and personal choice. And how the fight for those freedoms is never ending.
5 people found this helpful
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